It’s official. Charlie Davies is a cheat.Pretty well every fan who follows Major League Soccer knew that Davies’ acting skills had changed the outcome of two D.C. United games. In April, he went to ground all too easily when confronted by Los Angeles Galaxy defender Omar Gonzalez. Last week, without contact, he threw himself to the grass and earned a last-ditch penalty to give D.C. United an undeserved draw at Real Salt Lake.MLS came down on Davies today, issuing him a US$1,000 fine for his antics in Utah.

Yuri Studin, the president of the Greater Toronto Area’s Spartacus Soccer Club, has known Joseph Di Chiara since the boy was in the early stages of elementary school.He remembers young Joseph as not being tough enough to even keep up with his sister on the soccer pitch.Now, Studin is beaming with pride. After coming in as a sub last Saturday in a match against Terek Grozny, Di Chiara, now 19, got his first start Wednesday in the Russian Premier League in the sky blue shirt of Kryliya Sovetov, a 3-0 home loss to Anzhi Makhachkala.

But, on a historic night for Canadian soccer — and a historic night for the U-17 World Cup — goalkeeper Quillan Roberts provided one of the most remarkable goals anyone from this country has scored in an international match at any level.His goal gave Canada a 2-2 draw with England, keeping this country’s hopes alive entering Saturday’s Group C finale against Rwanda.

Canada goes into its final group stage match at the U-17 World Cup knowing that a win will likely be enough to send it through to the elimination stages of the tournament.Even if a win over Rwanda allows it to only finish third behind Uruguay (which has already qualified) and England, the team should finish strongly enough to be one of the four third-place teams to book spots in the final 16.

Canadian midfielder Joseph Di Chiara got his first Russian league start Wednesday, as Kryliya Sovetov (Soviet Wings) lost 3-0 to Anzhi Makhachkala.Di Chiara, made his debut Saturday, coming in as a sub and playing 32 minutes against Terek Grozny. But he got the start against Anzhi, which features former Brazil and Real Madrid superstar Roberto Carlos.

Montreal Impact keeper Evan Bush was named the Defensive Player of the Week Monday. Bush stopped seven shots and preserved a 0-0 home draw Saturday against the Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Bush was thrust into the starting lineup because of an injury that regular No. 1 Bill Gaudette suffered to his ankle in a loss at Puerto Rico two weekends ago.

When the new Ottawa franchise enters the North American Soccer League as an expansion franchise in 2014, it should have all the ingredients in place to have as successful a debut as FC Edmonton has enjoyed in 2011.Ottawa — which was officially announced Monday as a 2014 expansion team — has even more of a local soccer program to build on than FC Edmonton had, said FCE owner Tom Fath.

Keeper Maxime Crepeau is out for two weeks — and likely the rest of the tourney if Canada was to advance out of Group C.

Venezuelan forward Fernando Anor has been named Major League’s Soccer Player of the Week.Anor set up a goal and scored the other as the Columbus Crew went into the stifling heat of Houston’s Robertson Stadium and came out with a 2-0 triumph. He also drew the foul that saw the Dynamo’s Lovel Palmer sent off.

FC Edmonton midfielder Shaun Saiko hopes that he can appeal the second yellow card he received in Saturday’s 1-1 draw with the NSC Minnesota Stars.